Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Shows' Tickets? Send an SMS

The Lord of the Rings West End show employs mobile technology to launch first commercial, 100 per cent mobile ticket service for theatre.

The West End stage production of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy has become the first show to offer a mobile ticketing service to theatregoers.

Customers will be able to buy, receive and access show tickets using their mobile phone, reducing administrative costs, combatting ticket touting and taking advantage of a paper-free ticket system.

The service is exclusive to customers of mobile operator, O2 and allows them to purchase up to 10 tickets for Tuesday performances at a preferential rate using a secured credit or debit card transaction through the Easy Ticket site provided by supplier Trinity Mobile within O2's Active Portal.

Tickets are created in the 'My Tickets' section of the Lord of the Rings mobile box office, accessed via the customer's phone. The ticket will let inform customers of their seat numbers, opening times and has a unique barcode, which can be scanned in and redeemed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, where the show is playing.

O2 customers can access the service by texting 'LOTR' to 2020 and can also purchase tickets up to 12pm on the day of the show.

Kevin Wallace, producer of The Lord of the Rings said: "We're extremely excited to be the first theatre production to sample this technology.

"Buying tickets on your mobile and scanning your mobile phone to get into the show works like magic and is a trick I think even Gandalf himself would be proud of."